Bill Text: HI HB1346 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Bill 1346

Introduced

Bill Title: Relating To Education.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 24-5)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-28 - Bill scheduled to be heard by EDN on Thursday, 01-30-25 2:00PM in House conference room 309 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE. [HB1346 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2025-HB1346-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1346
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that average salaries for teachers in Hawaii generally fall in the middle of national rankings of teachers' pay. However, once the salaries of teachers in the State are adjusted for the cost of living, they are the lowest-paid in the nation. The national average salary for all teachers stands at approximately $30,086, when cost of living is considered. However, the average starting salary for teachers in Hawaii is $24,409, when adjusted for cost of living.

Furthermore, the legislature finds that close to half of teachers in Hawaii are leaving the profession or the State altogether within five years of starting, posing a significant problem for students. Slightly more than nine hundred teachers were hired in 2013, but as of 2018, fewer than four hundred seventy of them remained in the classroom. Within the last five years, the number of teachers leaving Hawaii has increased to seventy-one per cent. Only fifty-one per cent of teachers hired during the 2013-2014 school year were still teaching in Hawaii five years later, a decrease from fifty-four per cent during the previous year. As the State continues to address matters of teacher recruitment and retention, it is crucial to support current teachers now.

The purpose of this Act is to provide automatic step increases in teacher salaries for each year of satisfactory service completed, subject to available funds.

SECTION 2. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§302A- Salary increases; annual, longevity. (a) Pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement negotiated for bargaining unit (5) and subject to the availability of funds, teachers who have completed a year's satisfactory service and who have complied with the other requirements of sections 302A-602 to 302A-639, and 302A-701, as applicable, shall be entitled to an annual increment.

(b) Teachers who have served satisfactorily for three years in their maximum increment step or in any longevity step and who have complied with the other requirements of sections 302A-602 to 302A-639, and 302A-701, as applicable, shall receive longevity step increases, subject to the availability of funds."

SECTION 2. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Salaries; Teachers; Annual Increases

Description:

Pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement negotiated for Bargaining Unit (5) and subject to the availability of funds, provides annual salary step increases for public school teachers who have completed a year's satisfactory service and comply with specified requirements.

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.